THE MILLENNIAL ESTATE PLAN For our generation, the topic of estate planning evokes thoughts of mansions, yachts, and the oft maligned “trust fund baby.” Others tend to think of their parents or grandparents, or the need for Medicaid planning for a nursing home. This is true for personal friends of mine. When I talk to friends and others my age about estate planning, the most popular responses I get are something like “I’m buried in
Planning for our online and digital assets is just as important as planning for our physical, tangible, property. Not only do we make purchases on the internet, and have passwords for access to most, if not all, of our accounts, which store our personal information, memories, and thoughts, we may even invest and use digital currency, or even own virtual goods that have a real-world value. Providing our loved ones with the ability to account
Typically, I hear people saying that conversations between spouses are privileged and that one spouse cannot, or does not have to, testify against the other. But, is your conversation a “private conversation,” legally speaking? You may be thinking that that is a strange question, and that there are no laws governing communications with your spouse. Well, you’re right, but not completely. While there may not be a specific law governing what one spouse can say
A title insurance policy protects against any defects in title. These may include missing interests, gap in the chain of title, minor errors in documents,
Q: "If I have a will, is my estate and family safe from delays and expenses from Probate Court?” A: This is one of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of estate planning, and unfortunately, just having a will is not sufficient to avoid probate. WHAT IS A WILL? A will is a document that details your final wishes for your personal and/or real property after death. When you create your will, you'll notice clauses that
If you listen closely to Town Hall conversations across Massachusetts today, you'll likely encounter residential permitting discussions at a standstill between planners and developers. In fact, the rate of permitting across the Commonwealth since 2010 is less than half of what it was in the 1980s, according to Urban Land Magazine. As a real estate attorney who has permitted hundreds of residential and commercial buildings in dozens of municipalities across Massachusetts over twenty years, I've
The Moment of Realization: When The Government Delays Payment You finally won that big public contract after months (or years) of committing your company to the lengthy government proposal process. After scrutinizing over evaluation factors, you nailed the technical approach, management plan and safety and health plan and even came in under budget. You planned for issues that often arise once you’ve been awarded the work (such as subcontractor issues or customer “scope creep”), but
Some may argue that emojis, the popular small images used to communicate digitally are “the universal language”. However, as many of us have experienced, emojis often have different interpretations. WHAT IS AN EMOJI? An emoji is defined by Mirriam-Webster dictionary as “any of various small images, symbols, or icons used in text fields in electronic communication (as in text messages, e-mail, and social media) to express the emotional attitude of the writer, convey information succinctly,
Planning for your future and what will happen to your estate upon passing is a topic that every person should discuss. Everyone's goal should be to minimize delay and expense when dealing with not only their financial accounts, but their entire estate plan. If your estate plan is done correctly, there should be minimal- to-no cost upon your passing and the transfer immediate. My opinion is that probate should be avoided whenever possible, due to
A device that can take aerial photos or video and deliver goods to your door seems pretty cool, right? But buyers beware…that device could land you in hot water. Recent incidents involving drones raise questions and concerns over the regulation of drones in the United States. In an incident on July 4th in New York City, a drone crashed into a store front causing damage. When it comes to drones, questions arise over what liability